The Life and Times of Peter Green
updated 12 January 2025
 "Scary Family Xmas Photo 2024, Happy New Year too." |
December 23rdMark managed to get me a copy of Green Days "Heart Like A Hand Grenade" documentary. The film documents 9 months with Green day and the making of their brilliant "American Idiot" album. One of the best documentaries we have ever seen. Especially the dance moment for "Jesus of Suburbia". It has this Bob Fossee moment , crazy cool 60s style dance thing, reflecting Fosse's "Rich Mans Frug". Which you think was done for the Green Day documentary but is actually from the movie. I love it, it kind of did my head in. It works so well for Jesus of Suburbia. Anyway amazing documentary really worth checking out.Our friend Trudi arrives at 10.30 and we are going for a Christmas brunch. A bit predictable but I pick her some Kalorama flowers. We swap presents and she waits patiently in the car with Marky while I run around Mt D shops and do some last things like, buy litter tray sand, lotto ticket for bakery girls and mail off some parcels. A fun time chatting and laughing and enjoying food at Olinda cafe. She's really good friend, we totally trust her. Late afternoon and we drive to Enz mans Nigel Griggs place and surprise him for Xmas. Our friend Belle in France sent us (and Nigel) some wonderful chocolates so we hand deliver them to him. Along with huge toy sloth and some blackberry jam from us. It was going too be a quick visit but 2 hours later and we are all chatting. Home at 7.00 so a quick dinner for us. Today was a good day, Christmas is so close. December 24thMelbourne-Sydney-Wollongong.Up at 6.00 and get ready to leave. Our security friend is right on time so he is here while we are away. Plus our neighbours have a key so Midnight will be fine. The traffic to the airport is fine and Santas elves are on our side as we get the very last car park space at the long term car park, it is packed, we are fortunate. We rock on up to the Frequent Flyer area and they now have copies of Rolling Stone magazine. Apart from some Bic Runga & King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard it's a really boring lifeless magazine. Insanely expensive and nothing much of interest in it. Josie makes us 2 nice coffees and we have bit of food. Our Frequent Flyer life membership has paid for itself a hundred tines over, what a bargain that was. The flight to Sydney arrives on time, out the door and straight to the hire car desk and…it's empty. My name is on the screen and the Budget lady calls me over, she's baby sitting the hire car desk for the opposition. No waiting , onto the bus and we head to bay I11. Well the top of the "I" is missing so it looks like 11. The car is TINY, we are both bit shocked, we load it up. A guy comes up and says "I think you are in my car". Shit! The "I" looks like a one but it's really I1, Not 11. Ours is ten cars down, and thankfully triple the size, how funny. We almost pinched someone else's car. Good grief. We drive to the top of the Range and I drop Mark off, I don't stay for lunch as I want to see Mum in hospital. So I head off. I call into Robertson Cheese Factory, the thought of buying cheese for my Sister and Uncle. They have loads off cheese but no longer is cheese made at Robertson-insane. Maybe they need to change the name to "Everything but Robertson" cheese factory. So I buy my sister some shoalhaven Brie and my niece some crazy price honey with honeycomb. Glad I stopped as the Police pull over the driver before me and fine them for speeding. I drive off like some Granny driver… you are not catching me. I drive straight to the hospital and surprise Mum and call Sis. Mums looking ok, much to my relief, I track down her Dr to get the paperwork signed for Mum to come home for one day stay tomorrow on Christmas Day. Give her a kiss and head home. Sis is already at Mums and I carve the ham and make some sandwiches for the relatives that are arriving. It's weird without Mum tonight but good to see everyone. I'm worn out so crawl into bed by 10.00 and a restless sleep. December 25thNot much sleep and up at 5.30 and I start making the Christmas Pudding, fruit salad and the multiple platters for the chickens and ham. Once problem my sister forgot to get brown sugar. So I go out driving and everything is closed. So I come home and have to fake the Pudding. I add everything else I can and into the boiling pot it goes, I worry it will be some liquid mess in a few hours time! Oh well it is what it is.I drive to the hospital and fold out the wheelchair for Mum, she's ready to go. I can tell she is excited to be heading home for the day. The Dr's tell me she will be at the hospital for at least another week. We open all the presents and pose for the bad family Christmas photo wearing bald wigs and racoon masks. Some traditions one has to keep. Ha! We all have nice time at lunch, one relatives brings up politics which causes a small shit storm, Sis escapes to the kitchen with me, I cant hold my tongue anymore and tell some of them they are fucked. LOL. Always amazed that people believe such bullshit from politicians. Maddison is in one of her "almost a teen" quiet modes and rather sulky. Still not sure why , the teen years are coming up fast for her, all those hormones. Oh joy. I drive the Uncle and Cousin home and MIM joins me. It's heating up outside, and I keep thinking of heading to the beach. At 3.30 I have Mum back in the car and we go to the hospital. She's in her PJ's and in the bed, she had a nice day. Sis and myself hang around with her for bit longer. I run into Stuart, Mums nurse, he's a sweet guy. Tells me Mum has been a great patient and wishes me a good Xmas. I blow out the beach & go to crematorium to leave some flowers for Pop, my grandmother, Uncle and Dad. I grabbed some Frangipani's from my grandads place and put them around the headstones-they smell amazing in the summer heat. As long as I can remember the frangipani's have always grown at my grandfathers house, they are ancient, maybe 100 years old. Back at Mums, so I do the washing up, vac the house and put out the trash. Christmas Vacation is on TV as per usual. I'm a bit bored. So I check that Markys Youtube Wednesday went up today. It did. A bit of live Crowded House for Xmas. The wonderful "Private Universe" from Melbourne 1996. A really excellent version. We already have 500 views. Amazing. Another Christmas over and done with. I try to be as cheerful as possible, I am just happy Mum will be coming back home soon out of that hospital. December 26thWollongong-Sydney-Melbourne.I wake up way too early so give Mums house a second clean. I drive to the hospital and give her a surprise visit before I start the long drive up Macquarie Pass to pick Mark up. My "Maps" disappear out of my phone but Sis helps and we run it via bluetooth from the phone. I worry about turning the car off in case I lose it as I am not used to heading to the airport this way. All goes well , I reboot and we are on our way. We arrive early and a very kind Qantas lady gets us both on a flight that saves us several hours. Enough time in the Frequent Flyer Lounge to have some food. We both realise Banshee was born 20 years ago today. Tsunami Day. We arrive in Melbourne and it is a scorcher, getting close to 40C (105). I notice quite a few cars by the side of the road suffering from heat exhaustion. I watch the temperature gauge rising in my car. I pat the dash and promise her I will give her a wash if she gets us home. It must of worked as 30 mins later the gauge drops. PHEW! We make a quick food grab at Woolworths and home to Kalorama. Midnight is so delighted to see us. We give Chris some extra presents for minding the house and Miss Kitty. Midnight apparently the perfect cat, nothing destroyed and always used her litter box tray. She has an appetite too and we give her some extra treats. It's nice to be home again. The weather changes in the evening and a storm arrives. I hope Halls Gap gets some rain to put out the final fires. I sleep well. December 27thA Victorian Liberal meeting is called, Pesutto replaced by Battin. Good grief he has such fangs! The Count from Sesame Street has joined the Victorian Liberal Party. LOL Seems like it's the same old same old. That political party is lacking in vision.I call into the Storehouse Roastery as the Bakery is closed. My friend Aaron turns up so that is fun. Sis, her husband Mark and MIM arrive in Melbourne tonight so hopefully catching up, or in a few weeks when they are here again. I make some Parmigana Chicken with Coleslaw for dinner. It is surprisingly good. The Grampians fire has burnt 75,000 hectares, the size of Singapore. I keep thinking of the animals that met of died, so very sad. December 28thMidnight gets hungry around 3.00 am. I look out the big kitchen windows at the night sky and it is so clear. An abundance of stars. They captivate me so I open the back door and go out onto the decking and just look skywards for half an hour. The beauty of the universe astounds me. I go back to bed with Miss Kitty with a smile on my face.Good to see so many Victorians open their homes to bushfire evacuees this week. The generous Aussie spirit is certainly alive and well. The Bakery reopens after Christmas break and it's great to sit and have my one a day coffee. I visit Pellegrino's and Cas is on, lovely guy, bit of good looker-we talk fruits. He gets me onto Saturn Peaches. Flat as a pancake but delicious. I keep my promise to the Red Beast and give her a really good car wash. A few more dents etc but I like this car. Blokey and I feel safe in it. She has helped so many too. December 29thWe have been at Kalorama for 19 years, 1 more year to go till we are considered local. We both still love it up here, Midnight the cat just adores the 2 acres, total bliss for a young cat, spaces to run, trees to climb, excited by the wildlife.Two International Christmas cards arrive today- one from Ayisha in the UK , the other from Ray in NZ. Nice! I'm keeping our Chrissy Card wall up for a few more weeks as I love real cards. I keep telling friends I dont watch Ecards thankfully nearly everyone avoids me and don't bother sending them. Love a real card. We watch the Henry Rollins at Portland show. Hank is awesome, will have to se him again when he next tours Australia. Certainly a bit of hero of mine, his books inspired me to do the diary books. Lasagne for dinner, I mix some Fetta into the other cheeses so it has a bit of a edge. Watching "The Wilds", it deserved more than two seasons. December 30thJimmy Carter dies, age 100. A sad loss for America.Happy Birthday to Greg from Skyhooks. We give him a call. Always nice to chat to him. I open the new diary and start transferring some bits & pieces. It's so fresh and crisp and not beat up like 2024.Well 2024 diary…hmm maybe I was correct the first time, 2024 was a bit beat up! LOL. The Free Food Program is on today instead of Wednesday so I grab my Philanthropic Collective work vest and head on down the road. I call in for my take away coffee at The bakery first and sit for a few minutes. Just have morning chill moment. Another lot of volunteers , the numbers continue to grow. Loads of donations today, the boxes are over flowing with fruit, veggies etc. Appreciative souls turn up, this is such a wonderful helping hand for our local community. We end up having too many watermelons and grapes, so I jump in the beast with founder Andrew and we have his gigantic umbrella (tied to the roof of the car) down the road to Olinda Pool. They open the gates for us and we set it up and under it on the table kids. And adults can have free watermelon and grapes all day. How good is that-healthy food for all. Chat to Sis and we are off mountain. At least the weather is good for their holiday here. December 31stHappy New Year.I forced myself to get up early and go to charity. I call into the recycle machine and get another $3 for one of the recycle charities. So easy to do. It's great-good to recycle and each fortnight we help a charity with a tiny donation of around $3-$4. So it's about $100 a year some charity of my choosing will receive from our cans & bottles. The donations are out of control, Salvo head honcho says we must except all donations, I don't think she has any clue at the volume of rubbish donated and when you have 3 massive bins FULL where the hell it is going to go. Close to a safety hazard , I feel sorry for my boss. It must be frustrating. We all step up and do our best. Sadly though dealing with the donation fiasco it means most of us can't do our regular jobs. I skip lunch and try to get the Book Cave full again with dvds, blurays, books and cds. It's looking good by the end of the day and at some moments it is full of people. Several come up and say "this is my favourite area". That helps with the over working today. By 3.30 I am relieved to go home. I send out a SOS to find my friend Deborah who is drowning in toys for her area. I do get a supermarket run in and grab some Byron Bay beer. Some favourite Stone Bread which we both love now. Some avocados which I'll smash into the feta and use there stone bread to make some toasties. Yum. Marks been working on removing some of the evil jasmine for several hours. So we are a bit worn out and decide to stay in for New Years. Hide from the world, and have some beer and Cointreau. Our first drinks in many months. We watch the fireworks on the tv and stay up till 2.00 am. Happy New Year dear reader. I want 2025 to be a magnificent year but that little twitch in the back of my head says it might not be for many. January 1stWelcome to 2025.I feel a bit bleary, Midnight climbs up next to me and give me my "good human" pat on the head. Another year with the glorious fur ball. I kiss the husband and head out for a drive for my coffee. I know the bakery is closed but so is the boutique coffee place. So I bite my pride and have a coffee and snack at Destiny's Point. The coffee is rather terrible , very watery but I pretend it's the best coffee I have ever had. I run into Charles and the gang "last chance cafe" he says. I smile. I don't think they want to be here either. I call our friend Merlyn to wish her a Happy Birthday. She's on of the original "Gig Gang" when we were kids at Wollongong. We'd meet her, Jen, Sheryl ,Judith, Simone, Jeanie etc. Teenagers and mostly underaged we'd all meet up at gigs when we saw or favourite bands. Safety in numbers and true love of the Aussie music (and sometimes kiwi). I check the numbers for this Famous For 16 Minutes diary page and in 2024 , it had exactly 34,000 views last year. The counter died late 2024 and gorgeous Deb fixed it up. She pointed out that most web pages in 2025 don't have counters but as I said I never go by what others are doing. I love having a counter and she suffers me and adds a new one. I am a pain in the arse I know. LOL. Hell if I went via fads this diary wouldn't exists but hey here we are still. Come May F/16 will be 29 years old. That still blows me away. Maybe by May online diaries will become the in thing again. OK maybe not. The first album I played in 2025 was Placebo's "Sleeping with Ghosts". Track #1 "Bullet Proof Cupid" has this beautiful tough edge that rips the fabric of time and space. It's off to a good start. I remember this release going Top 10 in Melbourne but missed out by 1 spot for top 10 Nationally (#11) in Oz. #11 in the UK too but massive in France-#1 and selling 700,000 copies in that country. I admire Placebo. I think I have a secret dark urge to get rather fucked up with Placebo and dance in the studio while they are making music. I love that they were in the Velvet Goldmine movie. January 2nd2024 the second hottest year on record. 2025 is off to a hot start too, it's cooking in Melbourne town.Our Skyhooks lead singer Shirl celebrates his birthday today, if he was still here he would have turned 73. I'm sure like Paul Hester he'd still be that cheeky little boy next door. A sad day when Shirl died in the helicopter crash. Died what he loved doing though, most people don't get to say that-they just wither on the vine. Enjoy every moment of life it is way too short. We finish watching The Wilds. We want more. Filmed in NZ and Australia. Those rugged black sands of Te Henga Bethels Beach which I have jogged down several times when I needed some time and space to myself. Oh I forgot, Markys Youtube Wednesday did go up yesterday. This one is VERY cool. "Fame Is" from the Woodface album. Rarely ever played live. I think they played it around 6 times on the Woodface world tour. This one is from the small gig at the Prahran Club. May 29th 1991. The impromptu piece at the start is marvellous. You can enjoy it here and please share it with friends and frenzy. January 3rdI sit with Ian at the bakery and chat about life in the hills. We both know how fortunate we are living here. Locals come up for a chat and wish us a ‘Happy New Year'. It's calm and nice.I run a tiny piece on Split Enz "Give It A Whirl" single. Still shocked it only sold 791 copies here in Australia. We have this one off blue and black vinyl 45, one of those "end of pressing" moments where coloured vinyl mixes together. 1979 what a fabulous year for Split Enz. Mark & myself went to so many Enz shows that year. Anyway, a cool song. "Frenzy" is the B-side-we like that one, Nigel Griggs doesn't. HA. January 4thA super hot weekend, and we are all on fire alert up here. Probably not officially but it's in the air, people are focused, "just in case". Midnight stays inside and I water a few plants outside.I chat to Carol one of our neighbours and she has a new dry fruit machine. She's so thrilled having this food dehydrator. I offer up some of my oranges as they are not really good for much, maybe some Split Enz puppet heads but that's about all. Maybe they will taste great dried. I head to the garage and grab all our fire sprinklers and put them out, just on stand by. Tomorrow is going to be super hot too. The weather is 17 degrees above average. Crazy! Not much sleep tonight, restless. Just a lone white cotton sheet. January 5thMelbourne hits 39 today. So past 100F. It's warm outside but thankfully no wind. A talk of maybe some rain in the afternoon. If it rains I certainly am going outside to dance around in it. It's tribal and hell it feels so nice on your skin. Our bodies are what, 60% water so bit more won't hurt. The Aussie beaches in Victoria are packed.Good to see Penny who owns the Olinda Fish & Chip shop. They do such a good job, it all tastes so fresh and I dare say healthy. She's a lovely lady, so nice the locals love this place and support it. I spend the morning in the office and playing Xavier Rudd's "Jan Juc Moon". Feeling rather positive today. The song "Magic" is playing..I smile at the lines "There is so much magic all around us, On this island we call home, Surrounded by the sea….". Some times I need to pinch myself at how lucky we are living in this amazing country. Australia is the best! Maybe that's nice way to finish the diary. Have great 2025. Love Peter. |
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